This invention relates generally to an interior accessory for an automotive vehicle and specifically to a pivoting support for holding garment hangers inside the passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle.
In automotive vehicle interiors, it is common to have supports such as coat hooks located against an interior headliner trim panel or along a plastic garnish molding for holding clothing. A typical coat hook is designed to hold garment hangers or an individual garment itself. Traditionally, most automotive coat hooks are merely U-shaped members having one leg attached to a sheet metal side rail panel. Many coat hooks are attached to assist handle or side rail lamp bezels which, in turn, are mounted to the vehicle's side rail panel by screws or by quick connect fastening systems. Such a quick connect fastening system has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,981,323 entitled "Assist Strap for a Modular Headliner" and 4,981,322 entitled "Assist Strap for a Motor Vehicle," both of which issued to Dowd et al. on Jan. 1, 1991 and have a common assignee with the present invention; these patents are incorporated by reference herewithin.
Furthermore, some U-shaped or L-shaped coat hooks can be vertically rotated to a position flush with the inside surface of the bezel and then rotated outward to a substantially horizontal functional position. Moreover, a few coat hooks are S-shaped members which are clipped onto an assist handle.
While all of these conventional coat hooks are of simple design and are easy to manufacture they usually have a relatively small functional hook portion due to aesthetic, safety and packaging constraints. Unfortunately, vehicle occupants have difficulty in hanging more than a few garment hangers on small hooks. This problem is further compounded by modern automotive designs which have an inwardly sloping cross car rake of the vehicle's roof and side windows. These designs have side rail panels angled inwardly at approximately 45.degree.. Thus, traditional coat hooks have been tipped inwardly, so that there is even less functional hanger support area. This is especially noticeable when the automotive vehicle turns around a sharp corner and the garment hangers tend to fall off of the tipped coat hooks. Thus, there is a need for automotive coat hooks having improved functionality.